In the wake of the Hernandez arrest, I have to admit ... the old chestnut "Patriot Way" is kind of being polished off after a half decade in the dust-bun. However, I'm actually a little confused here about how people are using the term Patriot Way.

I've read the book of that title. It was never about "not drafting players who would become murderers." It is not even about "morals." I've also read Bill Belichik's bio, and it is about his history with Navy (due to his father) and the idea of applying the concepts that a military team would use to the NFL. It's a lot more Vince Lombardi than it is Mother Theresa.

Patriot Way was about football as an ideology and team as an ideology; that is to say, getting a bunch of people to play in aprima-donna-lessgroup pulling toward a commong goal;jettisoning distractionsand locker room cancers;next-man-uptype discipline through the roster; andopen-competition training camp, no matter who each roster spot belonged to the year before.

It was about sitting Welker for the first drive of a playoff game for making a single comment. It was about giving Adalius Thomas the boot for complaining about how he is being used. It was about quickly jettisoning Randy Moss for making a single comment about his contract status and wanting to be traded or re-upped. Doing the same for Lawyer Milloy and a few others. It's also about getting rid of players that are actually decent quality only because they don't follow all their assignments, like Meriweather, or preferring lunch-pail type guys who listen to athletes who freelance. It is also about jettisoning this thug Hernandez the moment he was arrested, literally within minutes; partially on moral grounds (sure that is one Kraft) but also because it creates a scene that distracts from the *team's* goals.

NE still functions like that, and will so long as Bill Belichik is the coach.

The idea that it was about moral highground, that New England only drafts/signs saints, or that Bill Belichik was the shaper of young men is an odd artifact of this forum or a couple of reporters. Criminy, they've always been willing to extend second chances to certain guys who met a threshold of behavioir that is actually lower than most professional places, but maybe a touch above a few selection sports organizations, though I suspect not most of the NFL.

New England has always taken chances on people with various pasts, but has always stayed away from people with histories of gun violence and domestic violence as part of the Kraft Way.

Furthermore, if drafting a guy who failed a drug test is a portent of having drafted a cold-blooded murderer, then look out. Just about every team has someone on it who failed a drug test, and just about every college player smokes weed, because they are (wait for it) college students.

In that light, I could see people being smug about this if NE had held on to Hernandez until a conviction ... but they did not. Kraft took a financial hit ... he took a hit that the Ravens didn't/wouldn't take for their murderer, he took a hit the Steelers wouldn't take for their rapist, he took a hit the Falcons wouldn't take until Vick was actually in prison for mass murdering dogs. At any level, star for star, they acted about as well as a franchise could here.

I'm saying two things: One, the Kraft Way and the Patriot Way are two different, distinct phenomenon, and two, I'm not saying other franchises wouldn't do the same as Kraft Way I'm saying some ... demonstrably ... have not, so Kraft deserves some credit for preserving this part of his own legacy.

Lastly, the debate, now really fueled by a few people here that are fans of rival teams and others that engage them, revolves around this: silly internet posturing about whose team has higher 'character,' which if you visit other sport fora, and I do, is basically the same across sports. People like to take digs at opposing fans based on the 'character' of their players ... as if it has a lick to do with what happens on the field.

It has nothing to do with Bill's quasi-militaristic concept of what a team should be composed of, and only a little with Robert Kraft's aversion to certain types of behavior in his employees, and a lot with how some people blow that out of proportion (on both sides) for their own little arguments.

In the wake of the Hernandez arrest, I have to admit ... the old chestnut "Patriot Way" is kind of being polished off after a half decade in the dust-bun. However, I'm actually a little confused here about how people are using the term Patriot Way.

I've read the book of that title. It was never about "not drafting players who would become murderers." It is not even about "morals." I've also read Bill Belichik's bio, and it is about his history with Navy (due to his father) and the idea of applying the concepts that a military team would use to the NFL. It's a lot more Vince Lombardi than it is Mother Theresa.

Patriot Way was about football as an ideology and team as an ideology; that is to say, getting a bunch of people to play in aprima-donna-lessgroup pulling toward a commong goal;jettisoning distractionsand locker room cancers;next-man-uptype discipline through the roster; andopen-competition training camp, no matter who each roster spot belonged to the year before.

It was about sitting Welker for the first drive of a playoff game for making a single comment. It was about giving Adalius Thomas the boot for complaining about how he is being used. It was about quickly jettisoning Randy Moss for making a single comment about his contract status and wanting to be traded or re-upped. Doing the same for Lawyer Milloy and a few others. It's also about getting rid of players that are actually decent quality only because they don't follow all their assignments, like Meriweather, or preferring lunch-pail type guys who listen to athletes who freelance. It is also about jettisoning this thug Hernandez the moment he was arrested, literally within minutes; partially on moral grounds (sure that is one Kraft) but also because it creates a scene that distracts from the *team's* goals.

NE still functions like that, and will so long as Bill Belichik is the coach.

The idea that it was about moral highground, that New England only drafts/signs saints, or that Bill Belichik was the shaper of young men is an odd artifact of this forum or a couple of reporters. Criminy, they've always been willing to extend second chances to certain guys who met a threshold of behavioir that is actually lower than most professional places, but maybe a touch above a few selection sports organizations, though I suspect not most of the NFL.

New England has always taken chances on people with various pasts, but has always stayed away from people with histories of gun violence and domestic violence as part of the Kraft Way.

Furthermore, if drafting a guy who failed a drug test is a portent of having drafted a cold-blooded murderer, then look out. Just about every team has someone on it who failed a drug test, and just about every college player smokes weed, because they are (wait for it) college students.

In that light, I could see people being smug about this if NE had held on to Hernandez until a conviction ... but they did not. Kraft took a financial hit ... he took a hit that the Ravens didn't/wouldn't take for their murderer, he took a hit the Steelers wouldn't take for their rapist, he took a hit the Falcons wouldn't take until Vick was actually in prison for mass murdering dogs. At any level, star for star, they acted about as well as a franchise could here.

I'm saying two things: One, the Kraft Way and the Patriot Way are two different, distinct phenomenon, and two, I'm not saying other franchises wouldn't do the same as Kraft Way I'm saying some ... demonstrably ... have not, so Kraft deserves some credit for preserving this part of his own legacy.

Lastly, the debate, now really fueled by a few people here that are fans of rival teams and others that engage them, revolves around this: silly internet posturing about whose team has higher 'character,' which if you visit other sport fora, and I do, is basically the same across sports. People like to take digs at opposing fans based on the 'character' of their players ... as if it has a lick to do with what happens on the field.

It has nothing to do with Bill's quasi-militaristic concept of what a team should be composed of, and only a little with Robert Kraft's aversion to certain types of behavior in his employees, and a lot with how some people blow that out of proportion (on both sides) for their own little arguments.

Good post Z.

I've always felt that that's what the Patriot Way was too. I never thought the Patriots were only drafting saints. After having getting busted for smoking pot in college, who would have thought that a few years down the road we'd be looking at a 1st degree murder charge?

I think Kraft if anyone feels spurned/burned. I think he fell for Hernandez's line of BS and now feels like he's been deceived. Who could blame him? The Pats took a chance on Hern. He fell to the fourth round for a reason but no one can honestly say they saw this coming.

I think you are spot on for the most part. I think a lot of the idea of the "Patriot Way" actually came from Bob Kraft though. It started when he let Myra make the call on Christian Peter. To this day he still is pretty over the top when talking about what incredible men his players are (see the Aaron Hernandez press conference last year).

yea but they knew he was gang member. Thats a far cry from being a weed head. Other than that, I agree with your points regarding the patriots way. Have they ever used that term themselves??? I cant recall.

yea but they knew he was gang member. Thats a far cry from being a weed head. Other than that, I agree with your points regarding the patriots way. Have they ever used that term themselves??? I cant recall.

"Take care of my B*tch, I may need her back in a couple years"

Brady to Manning after Wes signed with Denver

I've never seen anything that recalled him doing any gang activity in college. When the draft happened, the talk was about failing a drug test.

Also, in high school myriads of college players are linked to gangs.

This is just a fact about inner city America ... you don't choose to be in or out of a gang these days: you choose whose side you are on.

I think you are spot on for the most part. I think a lot of the idea of the "Patriot Way" actually came from Bob Kraft though. It started when he let Myra make the call on Christian Peter. To this day he still is pretty over the top when talking about what incredible men his players are (see the Aaron Hernandez press conference last year).

Maybe Kraft's comments have been folded into it ... but the concept was brought about when BB had the team come out as a "team."

In the wake of the Hernandez arrest, I have to admit ... the old chestnut "Patriot Way" is kind of being polished off after a half decade in the dust-bun. However, I'm actually a little confused here about how people are using the term Patriot Way.

I've read the book of that title. It was never about "not drafting players who would become murderers." It is not even about "morals." I've also read Bill Belichik's bio, and it is about his history with Navy (due to his father) and the idea of applying the concepts that a military team would use to the NFL. It's a lot more Vince Lombardi than it is Mother Theresa.

Patriot Way was about football as an ideology and team as an ideology; that is to say, getting a bunch of people to play in aprima-donna-lessgroup pulling toward a commong goal;jettisoning distractionsand locker room cancers;next-man-uptype discipline through the roster; andopen-competition training camp, no matter who each roster spot belonged to the year before.

It was about sitting Welker for the first drive of a playoff game for making a single comment. It was about giving Adalius Thomas the boot for complaining about how he is being used. It was about quickly jettisoning Randy Moss for making a single comment about his contract status and wanting to be traded or re-upped. Doing the same for Lawyer Milloy and a few others. It's also about getting rid of players that are actually decent quality only because they don't follow all their assignments, like Meriweather, or preferring lunch-pail type guys who listen to athletes who freelance. It is also about jettisoning this thug Hernandez the moment he was arrested, literally within minutes; partially on moral grounds (sure that is one Kraft) but also because it creates a scene that distracts from the *team's* goals.

NE still functions like that, and will so long as Bill Belichik is the coach.

The idea that it was about moral highground, that New England only drafts/signs saints, or that Bill Belichik was the shaper of young men is an odd artifact of this forum or a couple of reporters. Criminy, they've always been willing to extend second chances to certain guys who met a threshold of behavioir that is actually lower than most professional places, but maybe a touch above a few selection sports organizations, though I suspect not most of the NFL.

New England has always taken chances on people with various pasts, but has always stayed away from people with histories of gun violence and domestic violence as part of the Kraft Way.

Furthermore, if drafting a guy who failed a drug test is a portent of having drafted a cold-blooded murderer, then look out. Just about every team has someone on it who failed a drug test, and just about every college player smokes weed, because they are (wait for it) college students.

In that light, I could see people being smug about this if NE had held on to Hernandez until a conviction ... but they did not. Kraft took a financial hit ... he took a hit that the Ravens didn't/wouldn't take for their murderer, he took a hit the Steelers wouldn't take for their rapist, he took a hit the Falcons wouldn't take until Vick was actually in prison for mass murdering dogs. At any level, star for star, they acted about as well as a franchise could here.

I'm saying two things: One, the Kraft Way and the Patriot Way are two different, distinct phenomenon, and two, I'm not saying other franchises wouldn't do the same as Kraft Way I'm saying some ... demonstrably ... have not, so Kraft deserves some credit for preserving this part of his own legacy.

Lastly, the debate, now really fueled by a few people here that are fans of rival teams and others that engage them, revolves around this: silly internet posturing about whose team has higher 'character,' which if you visit other sport fora, and I do, is basically the same across sports. People like to take digs at opposing fans based on the 'character' of their players ... as if it has a lick to do with what happens on the field.

It has nothing to do with Bill's quasi-militaristic concept of what a team should be composed of, and only a little with Robert Kraft's aversion to certain types of behavior in his employees, and a lot with how some people blow that out of proportion (on both sides) for their own little arguments.

Good post Z.

I've always felt that that's what the Patriot Way was too. I never thought the Patriots were only drafting saints. After having getting busted for smoking pot in college, who would have thought that a few years down the road we'd be looking at a 1st degree murder charge?

I think Kraft if anyone feels spurned/burned. I think he fell for Hernandez's line of BS and now feels like he's been deceived. Who could blame him? The Pats took a chance on Hern. He fell to the fourth round for a reason but no one can honestly say they saw this coming.

Kraft is going to try to get out of paying this guy another cent.

Exactly Salcon.

I mean, there aren't really any warning signs.

All said and done ... this kid is facing one murder, an investigation about "accidentally" shooting some guy in the face, and a second investigation about a DOUBLE homicide last year.

He is a straight up gangster.

Whe you see substance abuse flags you worry about substance abuse problems at the professional level ... like possession charges, failed drug tests, lack of focus.

You don't flag a kid as a triple murderer.

I hope they do not do that in the future, and continue to take value selections in the 4th round on people with reasonably tame issues.

If another 1st rounder drops because he failed a test ... I hope they snare him.

This has nothing to do with weed or failing a drug test. It has nothing to do with Bristol Connecticutt, or this ex post facto determination that he was a violence threat, or that that had to do with his drop from 1st to the 4th.

This kid was playing gangster in the Dot, miles from Bristol (lol-ing at the concept of Bristol gangs ... what do they fight about ... pies cooling on window sills?).

Great post and thread. I will only add that it is nearly impossible for them not to of noticed a little bit of Hernandez's personality during his three years here and that is the real head scratcher/questionable move in this "Patriot Way" business model. Not one single person has come in defense of this guy leading up to this two week drama...usually you'll get something..."I never saw this coming"..."I can't believe he would do that". Instead we have Matt Light coming out and saying he never supported one single thing this kid stood for. What does that tell you? Matt wouldn't support him and yet the Patriots supported him with 41 million?

You should hear the people calling up the local stations today about this guy (guys that ran into him, played with him when he was younger, etc.) it's appalling. I knew a guy that played minor league ball with the deceased - he said he was a good guy - he said Hernandez was a real bad dude.

Think about the amount of time players, coaches and team employees spent around Hernandez. I don't believe for one second that he was a model citizen during that entire time and gave off a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Bryan Cox and a whole bunch of other guys we've employed weren't hired because they were nice character guys, they were hired because they put football above all else.

Hernandez obviously put many other things before football; guns, cocaine, drinking, strippers, pretending to be Tony Montana and mainly acting a fool. There will always be reformed gang bangers in pro sports, the ones who know how to prioritize and make decisions will be successful.

Bryan Cox and a whole bunch of other guys we've employed weren't hired because they were nice character guys, they were hired because they put football above all else.

Hernandez obviously put many other things before football; guns, cocaine, drinking, strippers, pretending to be Tony Montana and mainly acting a fool. There will always be reformed gang bangers in pro sports, the ones who know how to prioritize and make decisions will be successful.

The Patriot way might include: Some people deserve a second chance but there are no third chances. - TSWFAN

Two great quotes guys.

It has nothing to do with NE hiring people with high character, that was Kraft's side show ... Cox is a great example. It's about NE hiring people who are focused on two things: 1.) winning 2.) their role as part of the team trying to win.

I don't want a murderer on the team, I'm sure BB doesn't either. But if some guy with a DUI or a few physical altercations want to come play, focused, dilligent football and know his role and stay out of trouble ... then add them please BB.

I reiterate ... if a star WR or OT or any other position NE needs drops because he failed a drug test or punched some guy at a club over something childish ... and he looks like he wants to move past it and win ... please draft him BB.

The Patriot Way is the most overused term in the lexicon of the New England sports -- fans and media alike. I have never believed that every player the Pats brought in here had to meet the "Myra Kraft standard" or had to be the guy you want your daughter to marry. So they released Christian Peter and forever they are the league standard for a team with a conscience? It also goes back to the Pats first Superbowl victory when a group laden with castoffs, role players and retreads came out on the field as a team rather than individuals during introductions and then beat the Rams in a game that no one ever thought they had a chance to win. They did things the "right way" as evidenced by their refusal to be acknowledged as individuals but as a team. Those two things to me are where the "Patriot Way" myth started, and the team has since been portrayed as this machine that can only function with football players who moonlight as choirboys and boyscouts.

The media built up the image of the Pats as infallible. It had more to do with their on field record than any conscious effort by the owner or coach to chose only guys of flawless character to build the team.

Now that Hernandez blows that image away (bad pun) everyone who ever had an agenda against the Pats wants them to take the fall. Listen to guys like Ron Borges and you'd think the Pats are the American version of Al Qaeda for making a mistake with #81's extension. (A mistake in hindsight, but widely acknowledged by fans and media alike as a smart move to lock up a good player who had kept himself out of trouble.)

I have never believed that every player the Pats brought in here had to meet the "Myra Kraft standard" or had to be the guy you want your daughter to marry. So they released Christian Peter and forever they are the league standard for a team with a conscience? It also goes back to the Pats first Superbowl victory when a group laden with castoffs, role players and retreads came out on the field as a team rather than individuals during introductions and then beat the Rams in a game that no one ever thought they had a chance to win.

Here is the the thing. It's not Kraft. and in fact, as I am trying to demonstrate, the "Patriot Way" has always been to give chances to malcontents and people with troubled histories. Here is an article with an excerpt of someone invoking this:

At the wheel of the Patriots is the 59-year-old Belichick. He's not afraid to give anyone a chance because he's not afraid to cut anyone loose. Belichick has the coldhearted ability to eliminate emotion from personnel decisions. His list of gambles is long. Some pay off, others do not.

But a willingness to draft or sign players other teams deem forbidden is a Belichickian tactic.

"I think they just saw that I was a competitor and I'm here to win football games," said Mallett, who slid to the third round of the draft last April. "All the other stuff people were talking about was overblown. I think they could tell I'm a competitor, I'm here to play quarterback."

In New England, it's "The Patriot Way." Belichick has always swung away. He's a disciplinarian willing to grant risky second chances. Corey Dillon, Randy Moss, Chad Ochocinco and Albert Haynesworth were all malcontents to some degree before New England signed them.

Belichick didn't bat an eye at Moss' clap-on, clap-off effort. And after Haynesworth - the Washington Redskins' $100 million pork project - was suspended for "conduct detrimental to the team in 2010," there was Belichick with open arms.

Former NFL outside linebacker Chad Brown saw this effect up close. He played 15 seasons, including 2005 and 2007 under Belichick. Behind the scenes, he said "Randy was Randy." But for the one year Moss bought in, he caught 23 touchdown passes and the Patriots were one helmet catch away from 19-0. When both Moss and Haynesworth acted up, off they went.

"I don't want to call it 'fear,' but it's incredible accountability," Brown said. "You come in, buy in and do what is asked of you to the best of your ability, you can stay. If you veer anywhere far off that path, he will let you go. You won't be the first and you won't be the last."

The link is at the bottom. This writer, like many others, cites the Patriot Way correctly. It's about getting people to focus on football above everything else. It's never been about hiring choir boys.

That is something Kraft talks about, the quality of people. For BB, the guy who makes the day-to-day decisions, it's about winning and team, and jettisoning players who don't buy into this. As Wilfork puts it:

"That's the one thing, I think, that this organization has had for a long time -- guys that come in and they're not selfish. They put the team first because it is a team sport, it's definitely a team sport. You need everybody working on the same page. If you have one or two guys that's not, you can be in big trouble. "That's The Patriot Way -- we put team first. We win as a team and we lose as a team. I've won a lot of games in my career here and I wouldn't trade it for nothing."
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/belichick-architect-of-the-patriot-way-48429fk-138694204.html

Patriot Way was about football as an ideology and team as an ideology; that is to say, getting a bunch of people to play in aprima-donna-lessgroup pulling toward a commong goal;jettisoning distractionsand locker room cancers;next-man-uptype discipline through the roster; andopen-competition training camp, no matter who each roster spot belonged to the year before.

It was about sitting Welker for the first drive of a playoff game for making a single comment. It was about giving Adalius Thomas the boot for complaining about how he is being used. It was about quickly jettisoning Randy Moss for making a single comment about his contract status and wanting to be traded or re-upped. Doing the same for Lawyer Milloy and a few others. It's also about getting rid of players that are actually decent quality only because they don't follow all their assignments, like Meriweather, or preferring lunch-pail type guys who listen to athletes who freelance. It is also about jettisoning this thug Hernandez the moment he was arrested, literally within minutes; partially on moral grounds (sure that is one Kraft) but also because it creates a scene that distracts from the *team's* goals.

NE still functions like that, and will so long as Bill Belichik is the coach.

The idea that it was about moral highground, that New England only drafts/signs saints, or that Bill Belichik was the shaper of young men is an odd artifact of this forum or a couple of reporters. Criminy, they've always been willing to extend second chances to certain guys who met a threshold of behavioir that is actually lower than most professional places, but maybe a touch above a few selection sports organizations, though I suspect not most of the NFL.

New England has always taken chances on people with various pasts, but has always stayed away from people with histories of gun violence and domestic violence as part of the Kraft Way.

I'm saying two things: One, the Kraft Way and the Patriot Way are two different, distinct phenomenon, and two, I'm not saying other franchises wouldn't do the same as Kraft Way I'm saying some ... demonstrably ... have not, so Kraft deserves some credit for preserving this part of his own legacy.

It has nothing to do with Bill's quasi-militaristic concept of what a team should be composed of, and only a little with Robert Kraft's aversion to certain types of behavior in his employees, and a lot with how some people blow that out of proportion (on both sides) for their own little arguments.

IMO, it's always been a myth perpetuated and morphed into something that could never be achieved except thru a good PR department or thru media outlets for entertainment value.

IMO, it started with BBs no nonsense approach to running a team/organization - and is not nearly as complex as one wants to make it to be. Understand the goals, understand one's role, do your job and of course, put the team first.

And, yes, BBs approach was influenced by the military; albeit indirectly from his father who served in the Navy during WWII. He has a penchant for being cerebral - with sources of strategy from books like the Art of War by Sun Tsu. The disciplining or jettissoning of players was basically "my way or the highway".

Kraft went all in with BB because his approach run in parallel with how Kraft wants to run a business. BB could care less about PR. Kraft, however, is very concerned with PR. IMO, his wife was the philanthropist - not Bob. IMO, it was Mr. Kraft who wanted to portray the organization to be "on higher ground". Why? Money. Image. Goes hand in hand in running a profitable company.

Oh, and my opinion - some teams got sick of the smugness of the Patriot Way - because, the face of the organization - Tom Brady - does come off as being a Prima Donna - with the whining to the refs and berating players on the sidelines. He has become a poutin peyton.

There's a lot of talk about Gronk and hernandezs extensions Gronk and Hernandez were drafted in 2010. The following year I think it was the CBA that made a rule that a player can't re do his contract for 3 years. Gronk and Hernandez being drafted before the rule were grand father claused. As good as these guys were playing would you want them to go into year 3 or the final year of their contracts? There was a lot of complaining about letting contracts go until the end and not signing them early. I think it was a good risk at the time, but so was going for it on 4 th and 2. Now you got the easy part done telling me about it.